author, singer, scientist

my crazy life

When they tell you not to stick your finger into spinny metal blades, they REALLY mean it.

Yup. I’m speaking from very recent experience.

You know those stick blenders/stab mixers/hand-held blender things? It’s almost ironic that I don’t know what it’s properly called. Perhaps I should just go with piranhas…

Anyway, I really wanted guacamole, but the avocados really did not want to mush. Hence why I, the genius that I am, decided to blend them up and then stick my finger in the blades to unstick them whilst my other finger was over the button.

All things considered, I got off very lightly with some deep cuts. Plus, I got to experience the operating room whilst awake, because we all agreed that general anesthesia would be overkill for one little pointer finger.

And yes, I did try to watch, but their hands were always in the way… Instead, I had a nice chat with one of the assistants about what Star Wars film is the best (Rogue One).

To summarize, it was an exciting experience that would have been nicer with less waiting and less pain.

So don’t be stupid like me guys–keep your fingers away from… Piranhas or anything else sharp and spinning. Because, if nothing else, you won’t be able to write properly for a while and that sucks.

Remember that writing prompt I did back in September which I didn’t share because I was considering submitting it to a contest? Well I did, and now it’s been published!

Short stories from 21 talented writers (including me!) make up the final instalment of an exploratory journey of the seven sins: Pride, Sloth,Envy, Gluttony, Wrath, Avarice, and Lust. Meant for a YA audience, Lust has stories involving first love and stolen kisses, but also ones about the lust for power or an addiction.

Here’s the blurb for my lgbtq+ short story:

Fire and Starlight Girl

Sixteen-year-old Cassie has been best friends with Ella forever. On a beach holiday with Ella’s family, the girls plan on exploring, swimming and watching the sunset over the ocean. It’s a perfect summer until Cassie realizes she has feelings for Ella. They’ve always been able to tell each other everything, but is it worth sharing this time if it means she could lose Ella completely?

Never pass up the opportunity to enter a contest or submit to a journal/anthology–the editors/judges may really like what you have to say and your writing could find a home!

I thought it would be fun to share some of the science I’ve been doing, especially because it involves words. When people think of biology, they tend to think of the experiments, not the hours spent trying to condense those projects into a legible and concise piece of art.

It may not be literary art, but writing good papers is still an art–you’re still telling a story. For this post, I’m going to attempt to break down a little bit of that story and also to talk about two of the fun behavioural studies I’ve been doing!

So it’s October, and I’m still slogging on, trying to keep up work on my writing. I thought I’d give an update on where I am at the moment and where I hope to go. This includes an entirely new novel, B Like You, which up until this spring, I was planning to keep hidden under my bed. But then I read it, and I liked it. I liked it a lot. So I decided to try and make it into something presentable. So here we go, my current projects: Continue reading →

Sometimes, I feel like the hardest thing in life is deciding what you want and then working towards those goals. I’ve been told I have good commitment, but when another evening rolls in and all I’ve done is eat and watch YouTube, it sure doesn’t feel like it.

When uni ended for the summer, I had all these great plans regarding my novels and this blog–I was going to work hard on my drafts, start getting friends to give me feedback, start posting weekly again… However, by the end of July, I’d basically done nothing. I then decided I was fed up with half-heartedly chasing my goals and I was ready to make a plan and get out there with that butterfly net.

So far, it’s going well. I know that a one-size motivation-plan doesn’t fit all, but getting me moving sometimes feels like beating a rock with a stick. So I’d like to share with you 5 things I’ve been doing this summer that (as of yet) seem to be working: Continue reading →

If you live a well-organized existence and feel as though you’re doing everything you’ve ever wanted to do, I applaud you–please tell me how you do it.

He’s a cat potato.

As for the rest of us, trying to choose between working on the novel that university has pushed under the bed, cleaning under your literal bed, or that tricky bit of revision, ultimately results in deciding just to eat breakfast. This lifestyle is not working for me, so let’s re-evaluate. Continue reading →

For as long as I can remember I wanted to make books. When I was four or five I was the illustrator. I spent hours drawing pictures of me going to the library for storytime or doing cartwheels in my gymnastics class. I remember writing stories about fairies who lived in trees, and re-telling little red riding hood. I dictated the stories to my mom and she wrote them down.

It was after the excitement of learning to read and write wore off that I discovered my dream.